The EA Forums now offer details on the promise of a free game to compensate SimCity owners for the botched launch of the urban planning sequel. Anyone with a registered copy of SimCity by the end of March 25th will be entitled to download one of the following games from Origin through March 30th:

Quboid wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 18:24:That's a valid opinion ASeven, and one I generally agree with despite being a sucker who did buy this game. It's also my opinion that pistachio nuts taste nicer than cashews - and that's got about to do with it. Who is loudly defending SimCity in this thread?

That's a valid opinion ASeven, and one I generally agree with despite being a sucker who did buy this game. It's also my opinion that pistachio nuts taste nicer than cashews - and that's got about to do with it. Who is loudly defending SimCity in this thread?

Texas Jake wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 17:52:Just keeping it in perspective is all. Myself included.

Maybe next time while you're relating vague anecdotes about you and your wife playing the game, you should consider there might be other like minded people who bought the game and are very disappointed with it.

Texas Jake wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 17:43:And for those folks bringing up the validity of a lawsuit, I know this gives you a little nerd wet dream to think you're fighting the big bad EA, but the reality is there is no valid lawsuit. EA has apparently made right the connectivity issues, so you're out of luck.

Consistently calling people nerds on a nerd forum to which you are a member muddies any legitimate point you might have.

I don't think I ever heard the bottom of that story. While free recent games are cool, they definitely don't come close to making up for promising refunds then rescinding. Not even a bandaid.

Someone from their company said for people to pursue refunds with Origin to which Origin reps said no refunds were possible. They didn't promise it but it was heavily implied and the whole thing was really rinky dink, amateur hour bullshit. People have certainly sued for less in this country.

Should anyone sue them? No. They should use this as a reason to get worked up and not buy anymore EA games.

Texas Jake wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 17:30:If you haven't played it, you really don't have a valid gripe. Quit your nerd raging and go play something else.

Yes, yes they do. Plenty of people here have played and loved the SimCity series for decades; for me it's been well over half my life. SimCity 2000 was the first game I ever bought.

The promises before release (aside from the launch issues) gave people expectations of something much, much more than what they delivered and you don't have to have actually put down your money like you and I have to feel betrayed. The agent system just does not work as they implied.

If you like it, that's fine. I quite like it despite all its failings. But EA deliberately played on our nostalgia and repeatedly lied to us and having had the sense to hold off doesn't negate anyone's disappointment.

Honestly, I don't know what they promised with the agent system and I don't know how they played on anyone's nostalgia. I love the SimCity series, but I just happened to not really follow this one. Maybe some people got caught up in the marketing, I dunno. Judge the game based solely on its own merits after playing it.

Texas Jake wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 17:43:And for those folks bringing up the validity of a lawsuit, I know this gives you a little nerd wet dream to think you're fighting the big bad EA, but the reality is there is no valid lawsuit. EA has apparently made right the connectivity issues, so you're out of luck.

Consistently calling people nerds on a nerd forum to which you are a member muddies any legitimate point you might have.

Quboid wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 16:49:That's very nice, but most of the comments are about the free gift game, not SimCity its self. Further more, people discussing SimCity are hardly defending the state of it and those who aren't 100% negative on the game aren't wrong because you found a neat little quote on RPS.

No one is loudly and proudly defending SimCity and certainly no one considers it controversial to call out anyone who did.

Try forming your own views, based on what you read and how you feel and applying that to the situation. Copying someone else's view is fine if you agree with it but then applying it to largely irrelevant situations doesn't look clever.

Uuhh... That IS my opinion, what I've always said here, that gamers are stupid and spineless for wavering away consumer rights that will come to bite us all in the ass and everyone who bought this just made things a little worse for everyone. RPS just puts it a bit more diplomatically then I would.

Also, nobody is loudly defending this? Just look at this thread and you'll find people who are.

As for giving a free game... I don't give a fuck, too little too late. All of this, all, could have been solved by one single decision, make this game offline. Giving away a free game after people spent $60 or more and are unable to play is the least they could do and the game no longer has the same value as SimCity anyway.

What they could have done was refunds, but they were banning people who asked for what was rightfully theirs, their fucking money. A free game is just a tiny compensation that doesn't erase the bad taste in everyone's mouths.

So yes, I will be using that quote a lot because it reflects everything I've been saying here for years, because it shows gamers are spineless and should grow a spine and because it pisses off the spineless, and they need to be pissed off until they either grow a spine or go fuck another market with their idiotic consumer practices than gaming.

Beamer wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 17:21:I'm going to step back here and say that I have both a law degree and an MBA. You're arguing about your opinion on law and accounting. I am not.

Ahh, now a MBA as well. Quite frankly, I'm not buying what you're selling. Your claims certainly aren't impossible, but as I recall, in the past, you had a bad habit in the past of being in whatever field best supported your argument. I could certainly be mistaken. Perhaps some of the old-timer blues news'ers could chip in here.

You don't have to believe me, I don't care. As I've mentioned, my trip through law school was well documented on this site.

And yeah, I've felt in the past that I've had a bit too much of the "I've worked in this industry"itis, but I've been in several industries. Perfectly ok acknowledging that people being wary of it is understandable. Again, I don't care.